World IP Day Update: Honorable Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on the Judiciary, to Open the Program!
Issue No. 502 - April 22, 2013


The U.S. Copyright Office is pleased to announce that the Honorable Bob Goodlatte, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, will offer opening remarks at the World IP Day program on Wednesday April 24. The program will be held in historic Coolidge Auditorium on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., from 1 to 3 p.m. and is free and open to the public. This year's theme, as announced by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), is “Creativity: The Next Generation.”


The program will also feature presentations from songwriters and filmmakers, in coordination with the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) and the Copyright Alliance, respectively.


NSAI will feature its president, Lee Thomas Miller (e.g., You’re Gonna Miss This, recorded by Trace Adkins), Jessi Alexander (e.g., The Climb, recorded by Miley Cyrus), and Brett James (e.g., Jesus Take the Wheel, recorded by Carrie Underwood), who will speak to, and perform for, the audience.


The Copyright Alliance will feature mother and daughter filmmaking team Gail Mooney and Erin Kelly, who will present and discuss their 2011 documentary, Opening Our Eyes, detailing their 99-day journey around the world to seek out and tell the story of nine ordinary people making a positive difference in the world. Fourth-grade filmmaker Zachary Maxwell, who began making web videos in preschool, and screening his works at film festivals at age eight, will also present and discuss his short film Yuck: A 4th Grader’s Short Documentary about School Lunch.


Maria Pallante, U.S. Register of Copyrights; James Pooley, Deputy Director General of the Innovation and Technology Sector of the World Intellectual Property Organization; and Teresa Rea, Acting Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property, will also speak at the beginning of the program.


World Intellectual Property Day, internationally observed on April 26, marks the date in 1970 when the World Intellectual Property Organization  Convention came in to force. (Read more.)